There are hundreds of religions that people follow all around the world. Follower of every religion believes that only his religion is true and right. Moreover, most people think that Islam religion is to only worship and perform prayers whereas it is a complete way of life. It provides guidance in every department and aspect of life. Nowadays, it is believed among the majority of the Muslim society that exoteric devotions is complete religion i.e. prayer, fast, hajj, zakat etc. They do not know the importance of religion and think that merely performing these physical devotions is faith and belief. Prayers and devotions are only its part however Islam is a perfect and comprehensive religion.
To follow true religion we must find out who we are? And why we came into this world? We all have a soul inside us and it needs sustenance to get stronger, which is love of Allah. However, without love of Allah we can never prioritise Allah’s will over other things. Prioritising Allah’s will means to live our lives according to His will, make decisions and do things that He likes. Moreover, way of thinking of our families, society and this world is not same because everyone has different ideologies and way of thinking. So when we will make decisions preferring Allah’s will, our standards of living or way of living might change. Therefore it is possible that families and society may disagree or oppose but we should stand up to all the opposition and hindrance for love of Allah.
According to Perfect spiritual guide Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman true religion is when esoteric self of a human overtakes the exoteric self.
What is esoteric and exoteric self? Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen explains, “Every human has two sides. One is esoteric self (inward) which is also called soul. Other is exoteric self (outward) which is the physical body. Unless the innerself (nafs) is purified, esoteric self will not awake. However, it can never be awaken without the spiritual guide. One who has no spiritual guide, he is led by Satan. True religion Islam is when one awakes the esoteric self (soul), which came from Allah and will return to Allah. It is done through the contemplation of Ism-e-Allah Zaat under the supervision of a perfect spiritual guide. This whole journey is called Faqr and Faqr is true religion.”
Understanding religion is a source to recognise the innerself. Furthermore, ardent love for Holy Prophet (pbuh) is religion which begins with respect and ends at love. To reach Holy Prophet (pbuh) is religion. Therefore, Allah had sent Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) to prevail Islam in the world. Following religion perfectly means dominating the love of religion upon all other loves and desires. When this love overtakes and burns all other loves and affections then it will become ardent love. However, ardent love cannot emerge unless our innerself is purified and we can never perform self-purification ourselves. Only a perfect spiritual guide can do the purification of our innerself.
